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It's one small step for a team of researchers and one quantum leap for China. On August 16, China successfully launched the world's first quantum communications satellite from a launch center in Gansu province. It's the first step in China's ambitious plan to build a worldwide quantum satellite network by 2030, and it could be used to send messages that are nearly impossible to hack.
團隊一小步，中國一大步。8月16日，中國甘肅省發射中心成功發射了世界上第一顆量子通信衛星。這是中國立志于2030年之前建造一個世界范圍內的量子衛星網絡計劃的第一步，而且用它發送信息幾乎不可能被攔截。
The Quantum Science Satellite, or QSS, will be used to send a test message from Beijing to Vienna through quantum key distribution. This means that information will be stored and encrypted on tiny particles called photons, which will be beamed up to the satellite and back to earth.
量子科學衛星，簡稱QSS，將通過量子秘鑰分配來發送從北京到維也納的測試信息。也就是說信息將會被存儲和加密在量子微粒上，并傳送到衛星上，再返還至地球。
QSS is the creation of a team led by Pan Jianwei, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Pan's team has been working on the satellite since 2011, and has also designed quantum communication cables in several Chinese cities.
量子科學衛星是由中國科學院學者潘建偉領導的團隊發明的。潘建偉的團隊自2011年就開始研究該衛星，并且在中國的幾個城市中設計了量子通信電纜。
Why is information sent through quantum communication so hard to hack? The answer lies in the type of particles used for transmission. Professor Vladimir Makarov of the University of Waterloo says that traditional telecommunications, like phone calls, can be tapped because they use electrons to send information. Hackers can divert enough electrons to read a message without altering it. But the properties of a photon change as soon as they are measured, which means that trying to read information encoded on a photon will cause the message to self-destruct.
為什么通過量子通信發送的信息難以攔截？原因藏于用來傳輸的微粒類型上?；F盧大學的弗拉德米爾·馬卡洛夫教授說，諸如電話這樣的傳統通訊方式會被偵測到，因為它是用電子來發送信息的。黑客可以轉移足夠的電子來閱讀信息并且不會改變信息內容。但是量子只要一受到干擾，其性能就會改變，這就意味著試圖閱讀在量子上加密的信息只會讓它自毀。
If the transmission is successful, Chinese physicists plan to use the satellite to set up secure communications between Beijing and Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
傳輸如果成功，中國物理學家計劃用該衛星來建立北京和新疆省會烏魯木齊之間的安全通信系統。
Although Western scientists have also been working to develop quantum communications technology, they have been frustrated by budget cuts and red tape, helping China take the lead. In a stroke of national pride, Pan and his team nicknamed the satellite "Micius" after an ancient Chinese philosopher who theorized that the universe was made of particles.
雖然西方科學家也一直致力于研發量子通信技術，但是他們總是遭遇預算削減和官僚作風的阻礙，讓中國占了先機。沉浸在民族自豪感中，潘建偉和他的團隊用中國古代哲學家的名字“墨子”給這顆衛星起了綽號，正是他提出了宇宙是由量子組成的理論。
Wang Jianyu, who co-led the satellite team, said China "has been trailing the footsteps of others for more than a century" in scientific and aerospace technology. But the launch of QSS has propelled China ahead of the pack by quantum leaps and bounds.
該團隊的共同領導者王建宇說，中國在科技和航天技術領域“一個多世紀以來都是跟隨著別人的腳步”。但是量子科學衛星的發射讓中國遙遙領先于其他國家。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
